Older areas of Chandler have lost shoppers with the arrival of such competitors as Chandler Fashion Center, Chandler Crossroads Towne Center and the Walmart on Arizona Avenue south of the Santan Freeway.

One eyesore is the former Smitty's supermarket site on the southeastern corner of Alma School and Warner roads, which has been vacant for years.

"Probably its highest and best use today would be to reinvent it as some form of high-density residential," Pollack said. The largely vacant East Valley Mall on the northwestern corner of Arizona Avenue and Warner Roads is the poster child for retail blight.

That center is a candidate for high-density housing, Pollack said.

Another spot ripe for reuse is the vacant building formerly occupied by Food for Less next to the East Valley Mall.

Pollack, who owns more than a dozen shopping centers in Chandler, said none of his centers are candidates for mixed-use projects, but that his land on two corners at Alma School and Pecos could be mixed-use.

"Chandler doesn't need four more corners of retail at that particular intersection."

Pollack has redeveloped more than 12 million square feet in Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas, including more than 10,000 residential units.

"We need to be thinking seriously about potential reuses for some of the failed retail locations," he said.

Jeff Harris, retail leasing agent for RBI, thinks it's a great idea for the city to pay attention to rundown retail spots.

His company leases the Mercado on the northeastern corner of Arizona Avenue and Warner Road. It wasn't torn down and rebuilt, but the city did provide grant money for revitalization.

Brad Burris, a leasing agent with Cutler Commercial, handles some retail along with office and industrial sites. He finds older properties to fix up.

"We charge less rent, and it's a better deal for tenants than the newer buildings," he said.

However, Harris said that new buildings don't necessary have to charge exorbitant rents.

"Some of the older centers are dilapidated and have some level of blight," he said. "They're not attractive to retailers even at reduced rental rates."

Rundown areas attract less desirable retail such as pawn shops and check cashers, he noted.

"Goodwill, Salvation Army . . . Once you get tenants like that, it's the beginning of the end for a shopping center. . . . The right type is national tenants like the Starbuck's and Dunkin' Donuts of the world."

The stretch of Arizona Avenue from Ray to north of the East Valley Mall "has a lot of smaller strip centers that are really old and crummy looking," Harris said.